Death Records in Italy?

[HCbaby]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me the best and easiest way to find the death record of my Great Grandfather Lorenzo Belfiore. He was from Sturno. I show him coming to America in 1903. I believe that he went back to Sturno right after that because his daughter was born. There is no record of him here in the US at all. Only the ship passenger record. I do know that he was born about 1852 based on birth records that I have of his children.

I need some real guidance with this.

[johnnyonthespot]

If you are confident that he returned to Sturno and remained there, you can write the comune and request his death certificate, as well as his birth and marriage certificates while you are at it. The address is:

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Comune di Sturno
Piazza Municipio
83055 Sturno (AV)
ITALY

email: anagrafe@comunesturno.it
web: http://www.comune.sturno.av.it/

Write in Italian; example letters can be found here:

http://italiangenealogy.com/forum/viewt ... 07#p108741

http://www.circolocalabrese.org/resourc ... /index.asp

http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwi ... tters.html

PS: The passenger record I found puts his birth at 1862, not 1852.

[Italysearcher]

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library ... umns=*,0,0
www.familysearch.org
You can order and view these films at any Family History Centre in the world.
If he was born in 1852 you will find him here.

[Paolo47]

There is a family tree on Ancestry.com, but not sure it's your family.
Doty / Belfiore Family Tree |

Lorenzo Belfiore, Birth 1862 in Sturno, Avellino, Campania, Italy
Married, Emmanuela Ceriello, birth 1870
Children, Emilio Belfiore 1893 – 1963
Giuseppantonio Belfiore 1895 –
Rocco Belfiore 1896 –
Leonardo Belfiore 1899 – 1926
Maria Carpinella Belfiore 1903 –

Paul

[johnnyonthespot]

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library ... umns=*,0,0
http://www.familysearch.org
You can order and view these films at any Family History Centre in the world.
If he was born in 1852 you will find him here.

True, but the last several films I ordered at my local FHC took 6 to 8 weeks to arrive and cost $5.75 each for the initial rental term. Compare to the $0.98 cost of an air mail stamp...

Other considerations:

1) I have come to realize through comparison of atti obtained from FHC microfilms and those obtained directly from comuni (in two cases, the exact "same" atti), that the records coming from the comuni are generally far more complete. In particular, atti di nascita received from comuni often contain notations (marriage, death) that are not present on the FHC films. I presume this is due to the relative age of the FHC films or possibly to the fact that FHC films may have been made from archivio di stato copies of original records as opposed to the "living and breathing" copy maintained by the comune.

2) The original poster is seeking the death record of her ancestor who she believes returned to Sturno 1903. FHC films for Sturno go only to 1910, so a bit chancey on getting an atto di morte that way.

[adelfio]

I have had very little problems with fHL films and usually its 3 weeks for the film to arrive. The problem now with the mailing to the comune is the return postage 1.60 euro for the record to be sent back so by the time you figure the $1.00 for the US stamp and sending 2 IRC (that they use for making airplanes or notepads I think. Cause it a hassle for them to cash for postage and the lines in italy for stamps are crazy) because one wont cover the cost its almost $5.00 so I think do your homework here first at FHL then go across the wide open blue waters to the homeland as a last result.........My responce for records is 90% since I got a hold of italian postage stamps from a very kind user on this site with the IRC's its 30%,I think the reason is the comune doesn't have to mess with the postage with a return envelope with stamps on it and there willing to send you the record or a answer back

Marty A

[johnnyonthespot]

I have had very little problems with fHL films and usually its 3 weeks for the film to arrive. The problem now with the mailing to the comune is the return postage 1.60 euro for the record to be sent back so by the time you figure the $1.00 for the US stamp and sending 2 IRC (that they use for making airplanes or notepads I think. Cause it a hassle for them to cash for postage and the lines in italy for stamps are crazy) because one wont cover the cost its almost $5.00 so I think do your homework here first at FHL then go across the wide open blue waters to the homeland as a last result.........My responce for records is 90% since I got a hold of italian postage stamps from a very kind user on this site with the IRC's its 30%,I think the reason is the comune doesn't have to mess with the postage with a return envelope with stamps on it and there willing to send you the record or a answer back

Marty A

I think you will find that the majority of comuni do not request reimbursement of costs to copy & mail documents. Not only are IRC's more trouble than they are worth as you noted, but many of the reports we have had here indicate that even when a self-addressed (non-stamped) envelope is provided with a document request, it is as likely as not tossed aside and the comune's own envelope is used instead.

Archivi di Stato (provincial archives) on the other hand nearly always request reimbursement for the cost of of photocopying and postage. In my experience, they generally mail both the documents and the request for payment on the same day; I wonder what percentage of these invoices ultimately go unpaid...

[lilbees]

Hi Carmine. The Salerno Archives tells you via email they have found the requested record but do not send it until payment of the amount noted in the email is received. So they seem to have no problem making collections of money.

lilbees

[HCbaby]

Thank you so much for all the info. But the problem is, I can't read or write in Italian. What to do?

If you are confident that he returned to Sturno and remained there, you can write the comune and request his death certificate, as well as his birth and marriage certificates while you are at it. The address is:

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Comune di Sturno
Piazza Municipio
83055 Sturno (AV)
ITALY

email: anagrafe@comunesturno.it
web: http://www.comune.sturno.av.it/

Write in Italian; example letters can be found here:

http://italiangenealogy.com/forum/viewt ... 07#p108741

http://www.circolocalabrese.org/resourc ... /index.asp

http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwi ... tters.html

PS: The passenger record I found puts his birth at 1862, not 1852.

[johnnyonthespot]

Thank you so much for all the info. But the problem is, I can't read or write in Italian. What to do?

If you are confident that he returned to Sturno and remained there, you can write the comune and request his death certificate, as well as his birth and marriage certificates while you are at it. The address is:

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Comune di Sturno
Piazza Municipio
83055 Sturno (AV)
ITALY

email: anagrafe@comunesturno.it
web: http://www.comune.sturno.av.it/

Write in Italian; example letters can be found here:
http://italiangenealogy.com/forum/viewt ... 07#p108741

http://www.circolocalabrese.org/resourc ... /index.asp

http://www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwi ... tters.html

PS: The passenger record I found puts his birth at 1862, not 1852.

Very few of us know more than a few words of Italian. You can, however, use the sample letters linked to in the very message you quoted above.

[Italysearcher]

His birth record from the Comune MAY Include his death date.

[johnnyonthespot]

His birth record from the Comune MAY Include his death date.

More importantly, if he died there, then the comune will certainly have his death record (Atto di Morte).